Media content providers have a growing business of nonlinear video distribution. This demand is driven by the changing media consumptions of viewers. About 10 years ago, the only video distributed outside of the linear broadcast was Video on Demand (VOD) services provided by some multi-channel video programming distributors (MVPDs).
With the proliferation of devices, mobile operating systems and fast changing viewing patterns, the MVPDs have expanded the VOD content to meet this viewer demand. Providers now put VOD on traditional set-top-boxes (STBs) and also on their browser and mobile sites and applications. A product example of this is the TV-Everywhere product where the best content on cable television is available to consumers of pay-TV via authenticated login across many devices and platforms.
As viewers shift to these other platforms, consumption of pay TV programs have declined. Content creators have had to adapt from creating compelling linear content that can move audiences and win ratings to providing that compelling content whenever and wherever audiences want to consume it and in technical formats that best suit the growing number of distribution platforms. Similarly, revenue from traditional Pay TV advertisements has also declined. In response, content creators, distributors, and advertisers investigate different avenues to recoup ad sales revenue as consumers watch video content on a variety of online platforms (e.g., mobile, desktop, connected TV devices, online stores, transactional Video On Demand, electronic-sell-through, and the like).